David Sorcher's PhotoWorld: May 2015

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Canadian Polyptychs

I am still organizing my various bodies of work hoping to find a physical gallery space to mount a printed show. I have so much work from Nova Scotia and other parts of Canada that it seems it might be best to further categorize those images into sub-groups. Today i would like to present just the polyptychs. This does not mean that i would be opposed to placing single frame images in the same show, but as a means of organization it just seems to make sense to break up the work in this manner.
If you are unfamiliar with the term polyptych the images below should be self-explanatory. Polyptych presentation uses two or more images in concert to create a single work. I generally work with diptychs and triptychs. This was a popular device of Renaissance painters, often depicting religious subject matter in a paneled format. I use the form more for my landscape and nature work, but then that can be a religion on to itself, can't it?
My own ideas for this approach are perhaps a bit different from the Renaissance artists. I am drawing from an edit of single images from a particular day's outing that i find fit together compositionally and/or conceptually (ideally both), that draw the eye through a connection of color and line into a unity of design and hopefully brings a sense of balance and harmony to the mind of the viewer.
Please be sure to click on the images for an expanded view to be able to fully appreciate the work.

All Images ©David Sorcher 2009-15

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Past Their Prime

I have to thank the young photographer who chose my sunset lit corner to shoot portraits of her friend (or client) against the backdrop of the brick buildings across the street. Hearing conversation i peeked out my front door and noticed them working, first against the future Apple Market cater-corner to the my house and then by the side wall of Paris Jewelry. I decided to causally watch them work. Not in a stalker sort of way, mind you, but like any photographer interested in the seeing the way other photographers work. So i thank them because they drew me out into the best light of the day. At first i noticed the catalpa tree in my yard, which is just staring to bloom, and the play of light on those fragrant white flowers. I went back inside and grabbed my iPhone to take a quick shot. Since the tree was just starting to bloom i figure the best photos were a couple of days off anyway. But then i noticed the irises, well past their prime, bleached of color, backlit by the sinking sun. This was a job for a macro lens so i quickly ran inside for a real camera before the last rays of sunshine disappeared behind the buildings.

I didn't photograph these irises in their prime this year as i usually do. Everybody is always looking to capture images of flowers in their peek bloom, but there is a quiet and reserved beauty to these fading blossoms, drained of the dark, vital hues of life and preparing to wither and pass away.

(please click on images for an enlarged view)

©David Sorcher 2015

Monday, May 4, 2015

Future Fossils Collection

Around the first of the year i made a resolution to find a space to do a physical, real-world showing of my work. I have a number of bodies of work that i believe i could mount a solid show from so i suppose it is a matter of finding the right fit with the right space for the subject. A good first step, i believe, is to gather these images all in one place to take stock of what i have and to see if i can shop these ideas around to any interested parties. By far my preference for a first show would be my Future Fossils project. Of course, i do realize this project will not appeal to everyone. It certainly is not a lowest common denominator subject. I would probably find a larger audience for my Nova Scotian landscapes and nature work...pretty pictures the average person might find nice to look at on their walls. But i really feel most committed to Future Fossils, which might be a tough subject matter for some, but which i believe is some of my best work, especially on a conceptual level.

The Project

This project began back in my college days, a long, long time ago. I was living in Rockaway Beach, Queens, making the most i could out of beach community living. That meant long walks along the shoreline whenever possible. I began finding all manner of deceased animals along the beach and in the vacant lots i walked through on my way there. I've never found my interest in this subject to be particularly morbid having been interested in bones, paleontology and archeology since childhood. It dawned on me one day that these remains held the potential to become "future fossils" and so i chose that name for the project. I was also reading a lot of Buddhist and Earth Worship philosophy at the time and began to recognize these little deaths as merely one phase in a cycle that goes round and round. This point was driven home when i first noticed new plants growing up through old bones on the ground. Life feeds death feeds life again. And so it goes. May the circle be unbroken.

I adopted the attitude that these small deaths deserved documentation and sometimes even ritualization in remembrance of their passing. Everything that is feeds everything that will be and the sacrifices of the dead, no matter how small, should not be overlooked or forgotten. While i mostly adopt a documentary approach to this project, i do occasionally add to or arrange the subject in a funerary manner to this end.

This may indeed be work you have no desire to view. Death is a tough subject for sure, especially for the Western mind. Still, it is inevitable and can teach us important lessons about life, change, transformation and acceptance if you allow it.

What i am presenting here is my digital work on the subject. I do have a number of film images from the early days of this project which i would also most likely include in any mounted exhibit, but i have not been able to scan that work to show in virtual space just yet. If anyone knows of a gallery that might be interested in showing this body of work please contact me privately. I also encourage you, as always, to share this post with anyone you think might find it interesting.

(click on images for an expanded view, especially diptychs and triptychs)